Guthrie pitched into the ninth inning before the bullpen come on in relief to close the door on a Los Angeles rally.

Matt Wieters produced the lone run of the game with a sacrifice fly, which made up for a blown call at the plate that cost the O’s their first run earlier in the contest.

With the win, the Orioles completed their first ever season sweep of the Angels, beating them all six times this year.

Also, it secured the team’s first winning August since 1997, which is the last year they reached the playoffs.

The Rangers scored three runs in the first inning off of Kevin Millwood, really putting the O’s in an early hole.

Baltimore was able to close the gap to two runs after a solo home run in the ninth inning by Ty Wigginton.

However, the next three batters all struck out, leaving Baltimore to settle for a four-game series split.

It was a pretty big weekend for the O’s nonethless, as third baseman Josh Bell really broke out in Saturday’s game.

Machado received a $5.25 million bonus, which is the second largest in club history behind the one given to catcher Matt Wieters back in 2007.

Machado’s late signing came as no surprise given that he is a Scott Boras client, something that often forces teams to think twice about drafting one of his players.

The Orioles had to play a similar waiting game just a couple years ago with catcher Matt Wieters.

Now that Machado is under contract, he officially becomes the team’s top prospect in its farm system.

The team seems to be making less mental errors, something that plagued them all year long.

Showalter has been lauded for his attention to detail, something the players have already noticed.

Many of the veterans are pleased with Showalter’s no-nonsense attitude but also have stopped short of blaming previous managers for the team’s struggles.

Whether the Orioles continue to play well remains to be seen, but it’s a promising start under the new skipper.

Showalter will take the helm on Monday, August 2 after about a month and a half of contract negotiations.

Juan Samuel, the team’s interim skipper, will return to the third base box with Gary Allenson heading back to Triple-A.

Showalter has a career winning record and is noted for being able to turn around franchises in a short period of time.

He is very detail oriented and will immediately take control of an organization that lacks direction.

Wigginton will begin serving the suspension immediately and finish it before the July 31 trade deadline.

Serving the suspension after the deadline certainly would have made a few teams think twice about trading for him.

The pudgy infielder was suspended for bumping an umpire while arguing that he tagged a runner retreating to first base.

Replays showed that Wigginton clearly tagged the runner before he got back to the base and he should have been called out.

Ripken would do what he could over the next two years to help the club while his son finishes out high school.

Once his son goes off to college, Ripken would be ready to move into a full-time position with the club.

He has had numerous discussions with owner Peter Angelos over an undefined role with the club in the short-term.

Long-term, he has much bigger aspirations that included managing or become a team president or general manager.

Catcher Matt Wieters has been placed on the 15-day disabled list as he fights a stubborn hamstring strain.

Wieters initially hurt the hamstring rounding the bases but thought he would be fine if given a day or two off.

When he returned, Wieters quickly felt the strain bark up on him again and had to be removed from the game.

Expect the catcher to be out for the next 10 days or so, at which time he should be healthy and ready to go.

The sweep was completed in fine fashion, with Jake Arrieta showing unusually solid command and pitching the team to arguably its finest stretch of the season.

The series success certainly takes the club into the All-Star break on a very high note and gives hope for a respectable second half of the season.

Arrieta went six innings, allowing just one run and, maybe more importantly, only two walks.

There is no doubting the young pitcher’s talent, but he has shown a wild side that has been his biggest enemy at times. Going into yesterday’s game, he was averaging five walks per nine innings. 

The team got off to an unthinkable 2-16 start, which lead to speculation that manager Dave Trembley could be fired.

Trembley has managed to remain the manager, but the team’s play hasn’t improved much at all.

The offense has just been brutal, with a deadly combination of a lack of power and speed on the base paths.

The starting pitching hasn’t even been that bad, but the lack of run support has made it tough on them.